Environment and Infectious Disease

This report provides guidance on responding and rebuilding the health, resilience, and sustainability of communities after disasters. The scope of the report is intentionally broad, with the aim of fostering the integration of health considerations into recovery decision making across a range of disciplines and stakeholder groups. Disasters often impact fundamental elements of a community—physical infrastructure, health and social services, social connectedness—that affect the health of its residents. Accordingly, the recovery period, with its attendant…

This report from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) assesses the situation of the world's cities a year after the coronavirus pandemic was declared. Because of travel, trade, and mobility, cities have been central in considering pandemic prevention and response. Much like previous public health crises, determinants like inequality, inadequate housing, lack of clean water and sanitation, and air pollution have exacerbated the impact of the pandemic on urban residents. However, the past year…

This report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) examines the impact of disasters on agriculture and food security worldwide. The report provides estimates of losses caused by disasters over the past three decades, analyzing the increased global threat to agricultural production and its sectors, such as crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture. The report also explores how global risks—from pandemics to armed conflicts—drive disaster risk in agriculture, threatening people’s livelihoods…